fishing destination...wild acres this why i dont m
- Thread starter cranky
- Start date
at one point in the day...it was like fishing in a sardine run...pulling them out cast after cast between 1 and 4 kgs...boy did we have fun...all my fish were caught on topwater bait and rory used a spinnerbait...will do a more detailed report back when i have had some sleep :fishn
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near highflats...1 hour 29 minutes drive from durban...down the N2 turnoff at park rynie off ramp right drive for 1 hour sign is covered by bush...the road is in bad condition with big trucks and potholes all the way from the N2 off ramp...cost R35 per day to fish.
they talk about zero tolerance on the roads save lives...they should adopt the same attitude towards the maintenance of the roads.
got up yesterday morning...finished off some reports...quotes and stuff i had to do at work...then headed out fishing for the day.
i arrived at arround 11 am...rory and 2 other fellas had come off the water...i had lunch while the 2 other fellas packed up to leave.
rory and i started fishing just before 12...it was a bright sunny day...we headed up the dam to the cleaner water which proved to be a challenge which i expected...tried with a frog for a while...but with the water being so clean i didnt get an hits...i changed to a jumior fluke and started catching fish...but not the ones i was hoping for...just dinks....i tried a small clear spinner bait but also had no joy...i tried the frog again and changed my retrieve instead of pulling it allong the top i slowed down and let it sink about a foot then retrieved it slowly at a steady speed just enough to make the tail create some action...i could feel the little fish hammering and every now and again biting off the end off the tail...so i tried the same thing with the small spinnerbait but the same thing...it was time to head to the dirty water
on my down i caught a few small fish....the dam has changed again there is no longer an open channel it is closed with weed...so it becomes quite a task pushing through...spot where i had caught decent fish before didnt produce any.
i got to the dam wall and slowed right down focused on what i was doing changed a few thing like colours from a clear spinnerbait to chartreuse...put a darker coloured crank on etc...had to pump up my pontoons because of the huge water temp. difference...the water at the top of the dam was warm in comparison...the pontoons go soft and get to a point that they pop the rods out the rod holder...then you know it is time to pump...i had the small hand pump with me so i just went to the side and pumped them up and also move the pontoons slightly forward because it felt like i was leaning forward all the time.
first cast with the frog into the corner next to the outlet...i used a fast top water retrieve...man that fish came out the water and dived on my frog...i dropped the rod tip reeled up the slack and bam hit it...the 50 lb braid snapped half way between the hook and the rod tip.
so now the adrenalin is pumping i retired...shaking form the excitement and getting blind in my old age...it becomes a challenge but using the polymar knot its not too difficult.
i cast the frog back to the same spot and did the same thing but no luck...i slowed the retrieve down and tried a spinnerbait and a fluke but i had pinned the fish so it had more than likely moved deeper.
anyway time to move on...so i moved along the dam wall to where there are some lily pads...i have figured out a way to catch these fish in the lily pads...first a fast retrieve over the top...if no take slow down...and if still no takes...but if you suspect that there is a fish hiding there...you take the frog pitch it against the bank and pull the frog slowly over the lily pad...then stop and wait a couple of seconds move it just slightly...do this stop slow movement until it gets to the hole then let the frog drop into the hole...i saw 4 lily pads move at the same time which indicated that there was a big fish...waited for the tension on the line and struck...fought with it for a couple of seconds and it came off...retrieved the frog and found my hook had straightened...replaced the hook and moved on...tried the same technique along the dam wall...then went back to the spots where i missed the fish...but they had moved or where just too spooked.
i moved around the dam to a spot close to the dam wall where i have never had much success...but have heard of others catching there...so i spent some time fishing the area without any joy...i decided to try a part of the dam which is separated from the rest of the dam by a wooden jetty...no joy there either so i turned around and cast from where i was sitting to the deeper water
thats when the fun started...i had a blow up on my frog and could see it was a decent size fish...so i tried again hooked and landed a decent fish...next cast another one and another...rory called to me because he had caught a decent fish and wanted to take a pic with his cellphone...so i made my way out from the bank towards the channel and decided to cast parallel to the bank...the fish were jumping right out the water with the lure i hooked and landed the fish...moved closer to rory so we could take pics the ones above...and got back to some awesome fishing...i have never seen big bass come out the water in the air like they did yesterday...small ones plenty... but never big ones that size.
something i did notice yesterday which i have also never seen were tornado looking wind pockets blowing around the dam even sucking up the water in places the sound of the wind was hectic...when one of the pockets passed me i had to kick as hard as possible to try stay in the same place...as it moved past it was fine to carry on fishing.
the wind slowed to a breeze and the fishing slowed down...i caught the odd fish until dusk then got hammered again by a decent fish...the only problem was my rod tip was close to the water and only about 1 and a half meters of line hanging off my rod tip when it hit so i couldnt strike...just watching the fish hit the lure tells me that i am doing something right and will be back to fish there another day
i have ridden motor bikes as you can see by my avitar pic my old R1...travelled at some hectic speeds on one and two wheels...done some extreme things in water sport like knee boarding in the sea...air chairing etc and never thought that bass fishing could still make my blood pump after all these years of enjoying it.
they talk about zero tolerance on the roads save lives...they should adopt the same attitude towards the maintenance of the roads.
got up yesterday morning...finished off some reports...quotes and stuff i had to do at work...then headed out fishing for the day.
i arrived at arround 11 am...rory and 2 other fellas had come off the water...i had lunch while the 2 other fellas packed up to leave.
rory and i started fishing just before 12...it was a bright sunny day...we headed up the dam to the cleaner water which proved to be a challenge which i expected...tried with a frog for a while...but with the water being so clean i didnt get an hits...i changed to a jumior fluke and started catching fish...but not the ones i was hoping for...just dinks....i tried a small clear spinner bait but also had no joy...i tried the frog again and changed my retrieve instead of pulling it allong the top i slowed down and let it sink about a foot then retrieved it slowly at a steady speed just enough to make the tail create some action...i could feel the little fish hammering and every now and again biting off the end off the tail...so i tried the same thing with the small spinnerbait but the same thing...it was time to head to the dirty water
on my down i caught a few small fish....the dam has changed again there is no longer an open channel it is closed with weed...so it becomes quite a task pushing through...spot where i had caught decent fish before didnt produce any.
i got to the dam wall and slowed right down focused on what i was doing changed a few thing like colours from a clear spinnerbait to chartreuse...put a darker coloured crank on etc...had to pump up my pontoons because of the huge water temp. difference...the water at the top of the dam was warm in comparison...the pontoons go soft and get to a point that they pop the rods out the rod holder...then you know it is time to pump...i had the small hand pump with me so i just went to the side and pumped them up and also move the pontoons slightly forward because it felt like i was leaning forward all the time.
first cast with the frog into the corner next to the outlet...i used a fast top water retrieve...man that fish came out the water and dived on my frog...i dropped the rod tip reeled up the slack and bam hit it...the 50 lb braid snapped half way between the hook and the rod tip.
so now the adrenalin is pumping i retired...shaking form the excitement and getting blind in my old age...it becomes a challenge but using the polymar knot its not too difficult.
i cast the frog back to the same spot and did the same thing but no luck...i slowed the retrieve down and tried a spinnerbait and a fluke but i had pinned the fish so it had more than likely moved deeper.
anyway time to move on...so i moved along the dam wall to where there are some lily pads...i have figured out a way to catch these fish in the lily pads...first a fast retrieve over the top...if no take slow down...and if still no takes...but if you suspect that there is a fish hiding there...you take the frog pitch it against the bank and pull the frog slowly over the lily pad...then stop and wait a couple of seconds move it just slightly...do this stop slow movement until it gets to the hole then let the frog drop into the hole...i saw 4 lily pads move at the same time which indicated that there was a big fish...waited for the tension on the line and struck...fought with it for a couple of seconds and it came off...retrieved the frog and found my hook had straightened...replaced the hook and moved on...tried the same technique along the dam wall...then went back to the spots where i missed the fish...but they had moved or where just too spooked.
i moved around the dam to a spot close to the dam wall where i have never had much success...but have heard of others catching there...so i spent some time fishing the area without any joy...i decided to try a part of the dam which is separated from the rest of the dam by a wooden jetty...no joy there either so i turned around and cast from where i was sitting to the deeper water
thats when the fun started...i had a blow up on my frog and could see it was a decent size fish...so i tried again hooked and landed a decent fish...next cast another one and another...rory called to me because he had caught a decent fish and wanted to take a pic with his cellphone...so i made my way out from the bank towards the channel and decided to cast parallel to the bank...the fish were jumping right out the water with the lure i hooked and landed the fish...moved closer to rory so we could take pics the ones above...and got back to some awesome fishing...i have never seen big bass come out the water in the air like they did yesterday...small ones plenty... but never big ones that size.
something i did notice yesterday which i have also never seen were tornado looking wind pockets blowing around the dam even sucking up the water in places the sound of the wind was hectic...when one of the pockets passed me i had to kick as hard as possible to try stay in the same place...as it moved past it was fine to carry on fishing.
the wind slowed to a breeze and the fishing slowed down...i caught the odd fish until dusk then got hammered again by a decent fish...the only problem was my rod tip was close to the water and only about 1 and a half meters of line hanging off my rod tip when it hit so i couldnt strike...just watching the fish hit the lure tells me that i am doing something right and will be back to fish there another day
i have ridden motor bikes as you can see by my avitar pic my old R1...travelled at some hectic speeds on one and two wheels...done some extreme things in water sport like knee boarding in the sea...air chairing etc and never thought that bass fishing could still make my blood pump after all these years of enjoying it.
100% African
Senior Member
Great report. Sounds like a great place to fish